Polyhedrosis of arthropods infected with baculoviruses, such as the nuclear polyhedrosis virus ("NPV"), has jeopardized the shellfish culturing industry in Taiwan. Thus, there is a need to develop a method for rapid detection of baculovirus infection.
The widely used polymerase chain reaction ("PCR") technique, which enables one to amplify a specific DNA segment to a detectable amount in a matter of hours, may be used to determine the presence or absence of a specific DNA sequence if a pair of highly selective PCR primers are available. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195 and 4,683,202, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.